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Saturday, February 2, 2013

Saturday's Miscellaneus Musings - WHEEL SIZE & TIRE PRESSURE

Just a reminder that the clothing sale started yesterday and will be going until February 15th.

If you were looking for some clothing for the upcoming season all merchandise in the shop is on sale for a minimum of 25% off. Upstairs we have racks with 50-75% off. Stop by soon for the best deals on some great gear! Yes I even scored a pair of Pearl Izumi Attack Shorts. We highlighted these in our shorts vs bib comparison a couple of weeks ago. Great shorts and I got them for a great deal!

Today we are going to discuss wheel size and tire pressure. I am no expert in this area and a lot of my information is coming from two men that are quite knowledgeable and respected.

First blog comes from a guy deep inside the mountain bike testing area and does his fare share of gravel road riding, and most importantly to me is that he is the Race Director of TransIowa (this was mentioned Thursday in the Travel by Bike Segment) - Mark Stevenson from Iowa. He recently posted a blog on tire width and pressure that I found quite interesting and can be found by clicking here. I will be the first to say that his main target audience is mountain bikers and gravel road riders but I believe that his logic comes into play with road bikes as well.

I am no engineer, but there are studies out there that show tire deflation and how it effects your pedal stroke. I would recommend you checking out this blog and video from Mike Varley out of Point Reyes Station, CA. It is from Paris Roubaix and he talks about what I was mentioning above about deflation and your pedal stroke. Mike has been in the bike industry for 30+ years and was a designer for major brands and has a lot of insider information that I find very valuable as a bike geek.

The main point of both of these blogs is that tire width and pressure is a very important factor in your ride comfort and speed. You do not have to go with what is stamped on the sidewall. Experiment with different tire pressures and even with different sizes of tires and find the combination that works best for you.

You might be thinking that you don't mountain bike, you would never ride your bike on gravel (which by the way you are missing out on a great time but we will discuss the further in the near future), and you don't plan on racing Paris Roubaix. But we also know that the roads we ride on are not smooth tarmacs and have bumps that come into play quite often - especially with our winters that cause damage to road surfaces.

Another point I want to make that on race bikes you are limited on which size of tire you can actually run that will still fit in the frame properly. Tom's deals with some custom manufacturers and this can be handled that way or by ordering a "cross" style frame which allows for wider tires.

If you have any questions or want to look at different tire size and pressure options come by the shop and let's talk. You have to remember that we are not all made from the same cookie cutter and what works for you might not work for me and vice versa. You have to find out what works best for you and what makes you want to ride your bike because it is comfortable and fast!